Agile Beyond Software: A Manifesto For All Industries

When the Agile signatories created the Manifesto, software was obviously at the core of their thinking, which makes sense as they were all building software at the time.  As it has grown in its popularity, however, Agile has gone beyond software.  So, should the original Manifesto be adjusted to accommodate these new adopters? There is an ongoing debate about whether Agile is only for software development or whether it can be applied to other industries.  In order to even attempt to see if Agile could be applied, we should first take a look at the original values and principles, which you can find here: http://www.agilemanifesto.org. With that, here is a stab at what it might look like if it were to change. I've underlined any text that has been altered from the original:

Manifesto for Agile Product Development

We are uncovering better ways of developing products by doing it and helping others do it. Through this work we have come to value:

Individuals and interactions over processes and tools Working products over comprehensive documentation Customer collaboration over contract negotiation Responding to change over following a plan

That is, while there is value in the items on the right, we value the items on the left more.

Here are the principles with changes:

Principles behind the Agile Manifesto

We follow these principles:

Our highest priority is to satisfy the customer through early and continuous delivery of valuable products.

Welcome changing requirements, even late in development. Agile processes harness change for the customer's competitive advantage.

Deliver working products frequently, from a couple of weeks to a couple of months, with a preference to the shorter timescale.

Business people and developers must work together daily throughout the project.

Build projects around motivated individuals. Give them the environment and support they need, and trust them to get the job done.

The most efficient and effective method of conveying information to and within a development team is face/to/face conversation.

Working product is the primary measure of progress.

Agile processes promote sustainable development. The sponsors, developers, and users should be able to maintain a constant pace indefinitely.

Continuous attention to technical excellence and good design enhances agility.

Simplicity//the art of maximizing the amount of work not done//is essential.

The best architectures, requirements, and designs emerge from self/organizing teams.

At regular intervals, the team reflects on how to become more effective, then tunes and adjusts its behavior accordingly.

Okay, so there it is.  Yep, it’s that simple, I just changed the word “software” to “product”. Maybe you think there could be issues with some of these values or the principles if they were applied to other/than/software production.  I'd like to hear your thoughts.  If you have other industry experience, would these be good to apply to your industry?